The story and character description
Erin went into the kitchen. She was a bit tired, a day full of researching magic and learning new spells can take quite a toll on you. She set the mug on a counter and turn on the stove to get some tea done. She sighed heavily and leaned on the counter. The setting sun shone through the window, her garden looked so peaceful in the evening glow. She smiled softly at her little heaven full of many vegetables, exotic flowers and rare herbs. Everything would be perfect if not for one minor detail. In the back of her property, she could see a bit of movement. She already knew what it was. “Not again,” she thought as she runs to the door. She didn’t waste time to think twice as she directed her heavy steps to the root vegetable section of her garden. She could already see the culprit. Stark white rabbit dig through the dirt in search for his favourite treat, the blue radish. The fact that Erin could grow this species in her backyard was one of her biggest achievements. The young witch took great pride in her green thumb. Se wouldn’t let some annoying rodent waste months of work.
As soon as Erin was in the range of the animal, she put her hand in front of her and started to whisper memorised incantations. Her cape and skirt started to flutter as the gem on her neck started to glow. Soon after that, plants around the rabbits started to rapidly grow. The scared animal didn’t need any more warnings as he quickly escaped the grasped of aggressive carrots. Erin immediately soothed agitated plants by petting the ground around them and rearranging some dirt that the little intruder messed around with. She got some dirt on her in the process but she was quite content with her work. She wanted that tea now.
As soon as Erin was in the range of the animal, she put her hand in front of her and started to whisper memorised incantations. Her cape and skirt started to flutter as the gem on her neck started to glow. Soon after that, plants around the rabbits started to rapidly grow. The scared animal didn’t need any more warnings as he quickly escaped the grasped of aggressive carrots. Erin immediately soothed agitated plants by petting the ground around them and rearranging some dirt that the little intruder messed around with. She got some dirt on her in the process but she was quite content with her work. She wanted that tea now.
Refrence pictures and ideas
I had this idea of a gardener witch living in a middle of nowhere, just learning spells and taking care of her plants. I also wanted this character to be linked to the environment. That's why I didn't want to include any complicating props fancy outfits.
For the silhouette, I took an inspiration from an old children cartoon 'Winx'. It's a shape that I am familiar with and feel comfortable with recreating. I thought that for the first time of working with 3D character, I should work with figure that I know well. Her outfit was supposed to be simple but still have those elements that say 'witch' and 'gardener.
Modelling character and props
Modelling body was definitely a challenge. To create a clean mesh, you had to keep in mind every single edge loop. I started by creating legs and then slowly build my way up to torso then finally arms. As I said before, I was quite comfortable with working with that specific choice of body shape and my reference sheet was very helpful. Having a general knowledge of anatomy allowed me to freely change the mesh.
Modelling head was a slow process that required a lot of focus and forward-thinking. However, connecting edges and creating steady edge loops were one of the most satisfying parts of the process. In this case, the Internet was very helpful in finding limitless resources on how to model the head. Using ready meshes for reference was crucial in this part of a project and just further proved that as a beginner there is no shame in using resources to help understand the workflow.
Connecting head to the body was not as problematic as i thought it could be. Few resizings, usage of relax tool here and there and both elements were nicely connected.
Connecting head to the body was not as problematic as i thought it could be. Few resizings, usage of relax tool here and there and both elements were nicely connected.
Hands were a bit problematic but once again, using references helped a great deal. I knew that since my character was wearing gloves I did not need to focus on details like fingernails or creases of palms.
After modelling hands I connected every part together. I like the general shape of every element separately but I notice that legs were a bit too long so I shortened them a little and was done with her body.
Creating hair was not as complicated as I feared it would be however it was complicated here and there. To create most elements on her body I used one specific workflow. I duplicated the whole polygon of my character's body and moved it aside. Then, I selected specific faces that I knew would be a good base to start creating props. After that I shift selected whole mesh and deleted it. That left me with only previously selected faces. Creating dreadlocks was not that complicated since they are relatively a simple shape. The challenge was to model her bun. I really wanted to create this effect of loose bun with irregular strings of hair. I modelled each loop separately and then connected it with the base on her head. From that i Extruded some loose string at the bottom.
To create clothes I used the method described above. Most elements only needed small changes and adjustments. Exceptions were cape and skirt. I struggle quite a bit with modelling the cape because I needed to create a new flowy shape that wrapped around her shoulders and back. I started with using the shape of her neck and arms and then slowly extruded every layer. The workflow for the skirt was similar, I used the shape of the hips.
UV mapping & texturing
UV mapping was not very complicated. Since most of my meshes were neat, all the cuts were clean and simple. I struggled a bit with hair since the shape was a bit complex but finally, with some handpicking all the cuts I managed to create a good looking UV map.
some To texture every element I used substance painter and in some instances, a built in Arnold shader. To texture every element, I exported selected polygon. Then in the Painter I chose a material of choice and the colour. I resized the texture to fit my vision and changed its colour. If needed, then i began painting. My favourite element is the face texture. The soft blush, eye and lip make up make the character really pop. Some freckles and splashes of mud here and there give here the personality. Then I moved texture back to Maya where I applied it on the element with some normal bump map and roughness.
Lighting
I created three main light sources plus a SkyDome light to set the scene. The little extra light on her neck was supposed to connect this character to the environment set created earlier this semester.
Summary
All in all, that was a great practise to get a feel of how people in industry design and create characters. I am very happy with the results as the final render is very similar to the sketch. This assignment help me realise my limits but also made me get out of my comfort zone and learn a lot about softwares and workflow of artists working with 3D.
